Last year, mom and I watched a Christmas movie almost every night in December, and we plan to do the same thing this year. Netflix and Hallmark are famous for their cheesy rom-coms every year, and then of course theirs the classics. Today, I thought I’d share a few of my favorites and where to find them!
The Holiday Calendar
I watched this one last Christmas when it came out and it was really cute! It’s only on Netflix, because it’s an original.
White Christmas
This is a must-watch classic! It’s mom’s favorite, so we watch it at least once every year. It can be found almost anywhere: Netflix, Amazon Video, YouTube, Google Play Movies, PlayStation, Microsoft Store, Redbox, Apple iTunes, Vudu, DIRECTV, and Flix Fling.
Home Alone
Another classic that can be found on Disney Plus, PlayStation, Microsoft Store, Redbox, Amazon Video, YouTube, Google Play Movies, Apple iTunes, and Vudu.
The Princess Switch
A sweet, cliché, romantic comedy involving Vanessa Hudgens. What could go wrong? It’s also only on Netflix, though.
A Charlie Brown Christmas
Ahhh it’s not Christmas without Charlie Brown! Unfortunately, it’s hard to find and is only on YouTube, Amazon Video, Google Play Movies, FandangoNOW, and Vudu, but I say it’s a good investment.
A Christmas Story
Yet another very important classic. I could watch A Christmas Story every day for all of December and not get tired of it! Okay, maybe that’s a little extreme, but it’s funny every time. Watch it on DIRECTV, fuboTV, Sling TV, PlayStation, Amazon Video, YouTube, Google Play Movies, Vudu, Microsoft Store, Redbox, or AMC on Demand.
and how could I forget…
How the Grinch Stole Christmas
This is, without a doubt, my all time favorite Christmas movie. No, not all the new adaptations, they’re just weird and creepy. The original is the best and always will be. When I was little, I used to watch this movie all year round, while eating tapioca pudding and cuddling with my stuffed Max (that’s the dog, in case you didn’t know). I memorized the Dr. Suess book and could recite it on command. Yeah, it’s definitely my favorite. Go watch it right now on Amazon Video, YouTube, Google Play Movies, or Vudu. It should be on more streaming services, I’m highly disappointed in the Internet.
Thank you, so much for reading! Go check out all of these movies and let me know what your Christmas favorites are. XOXO and happy Blogmas!
*Slides into the room wearing Christmas socks, my “Deck the Halls, Y’all” hoodie, pajama pants, and a Santa hat while “All I Want for Christmas is You” blasts in the background* HAPPY JOLLY SEASON, FOLKS!
It’s officially December, which means that it’s the holiday season (so whoopdidoo). This year, my goal is to blog EVERY DAY until Christmas. I am very excited for “Blogmas,” and I hope you are, too, cuz that’s a lot of posts. I have a few ideas; we’ll see if I actually succeed. I currently have the perfect amount of motivation for it, but ’tis only day one…
To end this train wreck of a post, please enjoy this lovely (?) picture of my Christmas tree!
Stay tuned, my beautiful reindeer, and have a delightful December!
Last weekend, my mom and I ditched our school’s staff Thanksgiving party for a trip to a small village a few hours northwest of Shenzhen. My friend, Vanessa, joined our tour group of nine people, including our guide.
We arrived in Zhaoxing by train around lunch time and almost immediately sat down to a deliciously authentic Chinese meal at our adorable boutique hotel. As soon as we pulled up to the wooden building, I thought it looked like a ski lodge, especially because it was nestled between spiky, towering mountains. The main room had bean bag chairs in front of the wide windows and snow globes adorned each table. Outside, the porch had a swinging chair, which I spent a large fraction of my time reading in. In the dining room, we ate spicy duck soup, greens coated in flavorful soy sauce, scrambled eggs with tomatoes, rice, and more. The hot, black tea helped warm us up, as it was cooler there than it is in Shenzhen this time of year.
After lunch, we set out to explore the village. An hour of walking later, we came upon a bubble milk tea shop and Vanessa and I each got some. I hadn’t expected it to be very good, but we were very pleased with the quality. Most bubble tea shops use fillers in their tapioca bubbles, but this place’s was made of rice and tasted very natural. The shop had a wall of post-it notes, written by visitors. Almost all of them were in Chinese, except for one in English with the Instagram of a girl who, after a quick search, we discovered was an Italian exchange student living in China. Vanessa messaged her and she seemed pretty surprised to hear that someone else who spoke English had found her note on the wall.
Right next door to the tea shop was a candy stall, mostly selling sweets made from fruit. Mom bought a bag of chewy mango cubes coated in sugar. I’m dreading the day that we run out of them, because they’re amazing.
We continued to wander, looking in little shops at all of the fabrics, clothes, and bags. They make some kind of blue dye there, so everything is handmade and the color of the ocean. One shop was full of post cards, phone cases, and other small accessories, all designed digitally by the owner. It was all super cute and ended up being one of the highlights of the trip for me.
After the shopping, we took our seats to watch a traditional dance performance. The setting sun left the sky a dusty gray, accented by the warm lighting of the square. Women in dresses sang and men played instruments. Although it was a nice performance, many people were more interested in the little blonde haired, blue eyed baby in our group. Vanessa and I played with him and a woman gave him some candy.
Finally, we trekked back to the hotel for dinner to feast on fish soup, more greens and rice, chicken and bell peppers, corn, sweet potatoes, carrots, and more hot tea. More women, dressed in the same clothes as the dancers, brought around rice wine in a bowl and sang as everyone took a sip. As a slight germophobe, I was concerned by this, and Vanessa and I thought that everyone might get the plague or something. It was entertaining, though.
As you may have noticed, food was a big part of the first day of our trip. In my next post, I’ll cover the second day and our scenic, three-hour hike across rice terraces and through the forest. Have a superb Sunday!
I’ve always considered myself to be an imaginative and creative person. If I had the time, I would probably sit in my room for hours just daydreaming. I love journaling, writing, and scrapbooking. Now, I’m trying out more traditional forms of art: drawing and painting.
Sometimes, I just feel like I want to create something. I used to sit at my desk and just randomly paint, hot glue, or cut scrap pieces of paper. Now, I have better supplies and I’m actually trying new things.
This need to be creative is very spontaneous. A couple weekends ago, I made a candle for my friend’s birthday. I came up with it for no apparent reason. Another friend wants me to make one for her, too.
Yesterday, I went out to the store so that I could buy acrylics to paint my calculator (it didn’t turn out great) and today, my phone case (that turned out better, I think).
I really want to be a more artistic person, and I’m trying to replace the time I spend on my phone or sitting around being bored with making things. As I mentioned before, I love to journal and mom and I are thinking about making little scrapbooks for all of the places we’ve lived. When/if we do, I’ll make a post about it.
I know this was a really short and random post, but I hope you enjoyed! Have an exquisite week! ❤
It’s officially November, which means there’s only one month until the Christmas season begins! Despite our close proximity to the holiday season, it’s still 70-80 degrees and sunny outside! November also means that it’s National Novel Writing Month, i.e. I’ll be writing 350 words per day if I want to achieve my goal of finishing a 10,000-word novel. Let me know if you’re participating in NaNoWriMo!
This week, I’ve gathered my 10 favorite things to do in Shenzhen. Enjoy!
Bubble Tea, Boba, weird milk thing with weird chewy spheres in it: whatever you call it, I like it. Bubble Tea is one of my favorite drinks and it’s very popular in China. Hey Tea’s bubble tea is creamy with brown sugar on top. They also have delicious milk tea ice cream with bubbles on top. In addition to bubble tea, Hey Tea also has tons of other experimental drinks, like cheezo tea: thick, fruity tea with a layer of cream cheese on the top (not my favorite).
This is Dad’s favorite place in Shenzhen and one of two great Mexican restaurants in Sea World. Their enchiladas are fantastic and Mom and I go pretty often! They even have Jarritos sodas. We went for dinner two days ago for the Day of the Dead and they were all decorated with orange flower petals and sugar skulls.
For an American breakfast on a weekend morning, Emily’s café is perfect. They have smoothie bowls, scrambled eggs, and fresh juices. For lunch or dinner, there’s a steaming hot mushroom risotto, a variety of salads, and an Australian beef burger. My favorite, though, is their Poke bowls: rice bowls like the one above with fresh vegetables, meat, and sometimes mango, wasabi peanuts, or seaweed. I usually get the teriyaki chicken bowl, which has radishes, cucumbers, shredded carrots, and more.
H&M used to be the only clothing store that had clothes that fit me and that I liked. Now that I’m bigger, I can find more in other places, but I still like the style of H&M and it’s not too expensive. There are multiple branches near me, so I shop there pretty often.
For gifts or just for fun, Miniso has lots of cute products, from headphones and stuffed animals to makeup and snacks. If I’m going to waste money, it’ll probably be at Miniso. Again, there are multiple branches nearby, so I wander around here with my friends a lot.
I don’t actually shop here a lot, but they have nice shoes. In fact, I just got a pair of black boots for the Fall/Winter yesterday from Hotwind. Last year, mom got nice heels here too, so they have a variety that changes by season. They have clothes as well, but the one in the mall near our apartment is small and I’ve never found anything clothing-wise that I particularly liked.
SCHOOL SUPPLIESSSS!!! My favorite thing! Muji has plain and simple supplies and I love their binder notebooks because you can take out pages and move them around. I have one and it’s the only notebook I use for school, so I don’t have to carry around a bunch of them at a time. Muji also has nice pens and art supplies, as well as scent diffusers and even clothes (although I’m not a fan of their fashion). There’s a Muji in the same mall as the closest H&M, so if I go to H&M I tend to go to Muji too and vise-versa.
The Blossom Bridge
Unfortunately, I don’t have any pictures of this, but there’s a bridge behind my friend’s house that is lined with some sort of blossoming tree and towards the end of last year, we went up there and they were all bright pink! Underneath it, there’s a small creek or possibly a lake of some sort. The mosquito bites are worth it for the view!
I just had to include this one even though I can’t eat pretzels. There’s a mall a little ways a way that my friends and I go to sometimes and they have an Auntie Anne’s there. Every time we go to this mall, Auntie Anne’s is a necessity. Once, we waited two hours for pretzels. I always get a lemonade because it’s not too sweet and there’s real lemon slices in it!
Last but not least, Vivo has what they call a concept store in Sea World and upstairs, there’s this whole light up display. In the back of the above photo, there’s a half sphere and the lights can be changed using a controller inside. You choose a setting, like starry night, and it’s supposed to sort of simulate that. There’s also lots of neon signs to take photos with and those hanging things in the front of the photo sense movement and change color. It’s a pretty cool experience and it’s free, although I’ve only done it once.
Thanks for reading; I hope you enjoyed and I’ll see you next week! Happy Dia De Los Muertos!
Hey, everybody! Today, I’m meeting with a friend to write a school newspaper article and I thought I’d take you with me!
10:25 am
I woke up and stayed in bed for about 25 minutes. Now, it’s time to get dressed and go eat some breakfast!
My outfit for the day
11:15 am
Mom and I have decided to go to an American restaurant called H&H Bagel for breakfast. We’ve never been, but people say it’s pretty good!
11:58 am
We just finished breakfast! I had a sausage, mushroom, bell pepper and cheddar omelet and an iced lemon tea. Now we’re walking to Sea World to go to Starbucks.
Carrot and apple juice (left) and iced lemon tea
1:55 pm
On the way to Starbucks, we came across some very nicely painted electrical boxes. These are pretty common in Shekou but I especially liked the few we saw on our walk. Starbucks has some kind of Halloween drink. I didn’t try it yet, but I probably will (future blog post?)!
3:38 pm
Just got back from a meeting with a friend. We’re writing an article for our school newspaper about strangle flavors of chocolate bars. We tried peach and white chocolate and lemon and white chocolate. Both were actually pretty good! Slightly minty, too…
7:30
Dinner time! We had pasta with tomato sauce and beans tonight. Unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture… 🙊
Thanks for following me around for a day! If you liked this post, let me know and I can do more of them! XXX
My pumpkin spiced Frappuccino (left) and Janice’s pumpkin spiced latte 🍁
For my school newsletter, a friend and I have started a column called Tasty Tuesday’s where we discuss different food each week. This week, for our first article, we wrote about Starbucks’ Fall drinks. I was very excited that they had arrived in China, but Janice had never tried anything like it before. Enjoy!
Just Try It – Starbucks’ Fall Releases
By Celia Clipp and Janice Kim
An American’s Take –
I grew up in a place where October is the color of rust. Imagine
that the sun is setting over rolling hills, bursting into flames that dance
across the puffy silver clouds. On the other side of the sky, a full, pearly
white moon is rising to take the place of the sun. The trees sway with autumnal
breezes as yellow, orange, and red leaves silently drift toward the darkening grass.
Parents sit on porch swings beside faux cobwebs, carved pumpkins, and hanging
ghosts. Kids leap and sprint through front yards, laughing and singing with all
kinds of dogs at their heels. Now, the sky is darkening. Families retreat to
the safety of their living room couches to watch Hocus Pocus or Halloween Town.
Candles flicker in the windows. This is Fall, and it’s my favorite season.
Yeah, we don’t have that here. But we DO have Starbucks, and
Starbucks has pumpkin spice!
A Korean’s Take –
Now let’s get on with the highly anticipated fall releases
in Starbucks: Iced Maple Creamaccino, Pumpkin Spiced Frappuccino, and (the
classic) Pumpkin Spiced Latte, have finally made their way to China.
People tend to hesitate before taking their first sip of
this so-called trendy and classic Starbucks’ seasonal menu. “It tastes like
pumpkin pie.” “It tastes like spices.” What if you have never tried pumpkin
pie? What are “spices” supposed to taste like? It is almost impossible to
generate an accurate description of the latte.
Below is the closest I could get.
The latte has a creamy, beige color with specks of spices
(not spicy pepper but powdery stuff like cinnamon and nutmeg) dispersed all
throughout. It is similar to the black dots found in high-quality vanilla ice
cream. The flavor is very distinct, dominant, and dangerously addictive. It is
a combination of subtle coffee flavor, a decent helping of nutmeg, cinnamon,
and ginger with a tint of sweetness. Ironically, the pumpkin flavor in the
beverage was very mild and it affected the flavor minimally. The latte is served
hot, with a soft dollop of buttery whipped cream that tastes sweeter and
resembles the flavor of classic American buttercream. The kick of spice lingers
at the tip of your tongue, and there is a pleasant butterscotch aftertaste. The
aroma of pumpkin spice is undoubtedly capable of making you feel comfortable
and at home. It is definitely a beverage that screams fall.
“Just try it,” pumpkin spice lover, Celia, suggests. Make
sure to treat yourself to this heartwarming beverage because it will dissipate
before you know it!
I have obviously not posted in a long time, my apologies for that. I will be attempting to stick to my Sunday upload schedule for real this time… I hope.
I’ve been quite busy recently. A few weeks ago, I was in Manila with some friends for the World Scholars Cup. I may write something about that. After that, I had a lot of work to catch up on, and two weeks ago, my teachers gave me a lot of homework. This past week, I’ve been on Fall break, so I’ve had some free time to write!
Thank you for your patience, I’ll be sure to get my blog back on track!
Lastly on my road trip was Salem, home of the tragic witch trials that left 20 people (mostly women) dead and over 200 more in prison. Now, almost 300 years later, the town is full of history and cozy Wiccan and Pagan shops. The city also has a number of restaurants and cruises on the water.
The Witch Museum
The witch museum was not at all what I expected, and it was great! There are two exhibits. The first is a large, dark room with lots of 3D scenes all around. As a narrator told the story, different portions lit up in red or white light. The second exhibit was about how witches have been viewed over time. Before the witch trials, witches were the town healers, however people soon grew to fear them. Later, in the 1930s when the Wizard of Oz came out, witches developed their green-skinned, broom-riding, hat-wearing image. Nowadays, Paganism is recognized as a religion in the US and witches use herbs, candles, and more to worship their god and goddess.
The Witch House
Next, we walked down to a large, black building that was built for John Corwin, an important judge during the trials. The house gave insight into people’s lives during the time period, as well as information about the trials. Did you know that the entire human body was used for different medicines, including the blood!
Salem was probably my favorite of the three places, and we definitely didn’t do everything there. We had really good nachos and wings, bought some blueberry muffin flavored popcorn, and wandered through some cool witchy shops. I would love to go back and go into some other museums or maybe take a cruise. All in all, the trip was so much fun! Hopefully dad and I will be able to take a different road trip next summer! We’re already saving our change!
*Okay, so I finished this post like 5 days ago and then it didn’t post🤦♀️. So I’m sorry it’s been so long🙃😂. Today I went to write a post for this week and I saw it sitting in drafts! Have a great day lol😂*
Next up on my New England road trip: Portland! While we did see a few sites, a lot of our experiences in Portland were food related, which was different for me. I’m used to tours and history when I’m on vacation rather than basically eating the whole time, but it was kinda cool to relax and enjoy some delicious French fries, for example (hehe).
Donuts
For breakfast, we went to the famous Holy Donuts for potato donuts. I had a tangy lemon one and a Maine blueberry one. Dad had a plain one and a combined lemon-blueberry one. They were different, since they had potato in them, but they were delicious. We had to wait in a bit of a line, but it was totally worth it!
The Portland Head Light
Portland has a total of six lighthouses in the area, two of which are twins and in the same park. The Portland Head Light in Cape Elizabeth is apparently the most desirable job in Portland for lighthouse keepers, due to the fact that it has a beautiful house on the property. During our visit, it was warm and sunny, perfect for photos. We didn’t go into the museum, but we walked around for a little while and took in the view. There was a beach nearby and we swam for a while, however it was pretty cold and there was a lot of seaweed. Soon, rain clouds gathered in the sky, so we decided to leave. Just in time, too. It rained really hard for a few minutes.
Duck Fat Fries
After going to the beach and the lighthouse, we drove back to downtown Portland and decided to try Duck Fat’s famous Belgian Fries. I’d seen them mentioned on multiple websites, so we gave it a shot. There was a long wait to sit down, so we got a large order to go and they were ready in ten minutes. And they were perfect. Slightly crispy, slightly greasy, great with ketchup 👌. Unfortunately, I have no pictures of the glorious-ness, but they were great…
Sunset Cruise on Casco Bay
To end the day, we took a sunset cruise. Although the clouds happened to cover the sun that night, we saw all the lighthouses and the many islands surrounding Portland. There were even a few seals! The houses on the island are all incredibly expensive and I’m very jealous of the owners because it’s really pretty. And the high schoolers get to ride a boat to school instead of a bus!
Overall, I highly enjoyed Portland. I think I preferred Newport, though. It was really cute and there was more to do there. I feel like Portland is more of a party town, and Newport’s more for site-seeing. Tomorrow, I’ll be posting about Salem, Massachusetts. Stay tuned and have a beautiful day (or night, if you’re like me)!
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Way Out Wanderer 